Method and system for dynamic estimation and predictive route generation

ABSTRACT

The preferred embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for dynamic route estimation and prediction using discrete sampled location updates from various mobile devices for the purpose of providing a graphical representation of a mobile device&#39;s route along a known network path of map data. The embodiments also provide supplemental route metrics, such as traveled distance, elapsed time, etc., and the capability to assign destination points for the purpose of providing the ability to modify location update points in an application, such as a route planner, and/or to store the dynamically generated route based on various preferences for later retrieval.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/377,228, entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation andPredictive Route Generation”, filed on Apr. 7, 2019; which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/887,989, entitled“Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Feb. 3, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,274,337; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/657,141,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Jul. 22, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,921,077; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/435,283,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Feb. 16, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,746,341; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/997,521,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Jan. 16, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,607,346; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/067,415,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Oct. 30, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,354,069; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/346,265,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed on Jan. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,577,390; whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/929,458,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration”, filed Jan. 26, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,095,152; which inturn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/484,091,entitled “Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration,” filed Jun. 12, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,881,730; which isa division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/410,740, entitled“Method and System for Dynamic Estimation and Predictive RouteGeneration,” filed Apr. 10, 2003, now U.S. Pat. 7,565, 155; which claimspriority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/371,941 filedApr. 10, 2002; the entirety of all ten of which are expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Invention

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for dynamicroute estimation and prediction using discrete sampled location updatesfrom various mobile devices, and to also provide supplementalinformation such as route metrics, including without limitation traveleddistance and elapsed time.

2. Description of the Related Art

Computerized mapping software is achieving widespread use today. Suchmapping programs are commonly used to automate tasks of calculatingroutes, viewing location-specific geographical areas for their spatialcontent, such as addresses, roadways, rivers, etc., and for the purposeof being used with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices for variousapplications, such as a personal navigation application. Mappingsoftware programs apply to a wide variety of uses, such as personalnavigation, telematics, thematic mapping, resource planning, routing,fleet tracking, safety dispatching (i.e., Police, Fire, and Rescueorganizations), and a wide variety of specialized Geographic InformationSystem (GIS) applications, all of which are well known to people skilledin the art.

Real-time communication networks today also provide the ability totransfer, in real-time, voice and data information from various mobiledevices, such as wireless phones, telemetry devices, or the like, to amultitude of other devices, either mobile or stationary, all of whichare well known to people that are skilled in the art. For example, GPSdevices that are connected to a wireless MODEM are able to transfertheir position coordinates, such as latitude and longitude, wirelesslyto a computer or server for later retrieval or real-time viewing of saidinformation. Current applications that integrate or combine mapping,real-time communication capabilities, and position devices, for variouscomputing devices are well known to people skilled in the art. Theseapplications are referred to by various terminologies, including, butnot limited to Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Location-Based Services(LBS), Fleet Tracking Systems, etc., all of which are well known topeople skilled in the art.

Conventional systems, such as AVL systems, typically involve apositioning device connected to a wireless MODEM sending locationinformation, amongst other telemetry information, at discrete timeintervals to a computer for the viewing of said information. Thismonitoring, or tracking, of real-time location information or oflocation-history information is sometimes referred to as the breadcrumbtrail or history information of the mobile device, since it illustratesthe current and/or previous locations that the mobile device is or hasbeen in space and time. The problem with the conventional system is thatthe ‘breadcrumb’ trail does not provide the user with sufficientinformation about the mobile device's actual or estimated route duringthe course of its travels, but only provides discrete locationinformation over a specified period of time. How the mobile devicetraveled along the underling routable network infrastructure, such asroads, highways, exit ramps, etc., from point-to-point is not providedin prior art.

Conventional applications will sometimes associate the term ‘route’ witha breadcrumb trail that directly connects discrete points with straightlines, but this is not an accurate use of the term as known to peoplethat are skilled in the art. For example, a route is typically definedas a road, course, or way for traveling from one place to another over aset of various defined paths, such as a route along a highway. Truerouting applications include a network of paths that are used incombination with destination points, where destination points caninclude both an origin and stop points, in order to determine a specificroute along said network paths between each of the destination points.

Conventional systems widely use this method of connecting direct linesbetween location updates for illustrating the breadcrumb trail path anddirection between location updated points. Some conventional systemsfurther illustrate the order of the location updates that the mobiledevice traveled by chronologically numbering each of the locationupdates or by connecting a direct line from each point, or drawing anarrow at each point, with an arrow illustrating the mobile device'sheading or pseudo heading. The problem with the conventional system isthat these methods and systems do not provide the user with any actualor estimated route information derived from the location updates,specifically due to the discrete nature of the location data. As peopleskilled in the art will appreciate, a method and system that can createa dynamic estimated route between various discrete locations wouldprovide a number of improvements over existing prior art, such asproviding a better illustration of the data, which has inherentlimitations due to its being discrete location data, extrapolating totaldriving distance from a set of discrete location updates, and providingto the user an ability to save the calculated estimated route or plannew routes from the existing location information.

Thus, a need exits for a method and system that allows an application todynamically generate estimated route information from location updatesoriginally derived from a mobile positioning device. Until now, anadequate solution to these problems has eluded those skilled in the art.Thus, there exists a need to provide a solution that enables anapplication to dynamically generate, based on various route generationpreferences, estimated and predictive routes using location informationthat was generated from a mobile positioning device sending discretelocation updates of its position over various periods of time. Thisprovides many important benefits for computing devices that receivediscrete position updates for the purpose of monitoring, planning, andanalysis of mobile devices' positional information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and systemfor enabling dynamic estimated routing calculations between locationpoints generated from a mobile device with access to its own location(i.e., position) information, and also displaying said calculated routeon a map display of varying size and resolution. In one embodiment, awireless mobile device transmits its location information by means of acentralized server where the location data is routed to the specificdestination device, either stationary or mobile. The device initiallydisplays the first location point on the map display that has either avisible or transparent underlying road network. The next location updatethat arrives from the mobile device, indicating its next position, ispreferably displayed similarly to the first location update, and adynamically estimated route is generated in real-time based on a set ofroute preferences and displayed on the map display between the twolocation points. In this embodiment, if the location updates do notintersect the pathways of the road network exactly, the points used inthe route calculation are a result of the location points being snappedto the nearest road pathway or segment for the purpose of enabling theroute calculation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andsystem for enabling predictive dynamic routing calculations betweenlocation points in real-time as they arrive from a mobile device thathas access to its own location information. Predictive routing providesthe user or application with estimated predicted route calculationinformation between location updates based on various preferences, suchas origin and destination information, map data information (e.g., roadspeed limits, one-way information, etc.), mobile device information(i.e., heading, speed, vehicle type, etc.). Predictive routing is basedon one or more known location updates and is calculated from the time aninitial location update arrives to the time when the next locationupdate arrives. Predictive routing is preferably further augmented whenthe destination information is known in advance, but the various pointsbetween the origin and destination are not known. In one embodiment, aninitial location update is provided and the destination location isknown in advance. Using the initial location update, and various otheraiding information, such as vehicle vector information such as heading,speed, etc., an estimated route can be calculated in pseudo real-timeusing the vector information of the device along with some destinationinformation. In another embodiment, when destination information is notprovided, the predicted route is calculated and displayed in allpossible directions that routes can exist.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andsystem for displaying the dynamic route calculated using discretelocation update information on a mobile or stationary computing device.In one embodiment, a mobile device would send discrete locationinformation in a peer-to-peer connection to another mobile device, suchas an in-vehicle navigation device, for the display of the remote mobiledevice's location information and for real-time dynamic routecalculation of the remote mobile device's travels or to the remotemobile device's current location. In another embodiment, the mobiledevice would send discrete location information by means of adistributed server system that routes the location information to astationary dispatch computer or group of computers. In both cases, thedisplay and calculation of dynamic route information is similarlyperformed.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andsystem for providing a set of route preferences for use in calculatingdynamic route information. The route preferences can be specific to eachdevice thus allowing a more precise approximation of the actual versusestimated route traveled by the mobile device. In one embodiment, routepreferences, when using map data that consists of road networks formotor vehicles, includes various types of categories, such as DrivingSpeeds, Route Optimization Goals, Road Preferences, etc. For example,Driving Speeds illustrates average speeds the vehicle travels overvarious types of roads, such as Interstate Highways Average Speed, OtherHighways Average Speed, Arterial Roads Average Speed, Surface StreetsAverage Speed, or the like. In this embodiment, Route Optimization Goalsillustrates either the Fastest Route or the Shortest Route, while RoadPreferences illustrates whether the motor vehicle typically avoidsHighways, Arterial Roads, or Toll Roads. These and other preferencesallow the dynamic route calculation to closer approximate the actualroute most likely traveled by the vehicle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andsystem for providing the route to be calculated from a knowninfrastructure of network paths, such as a road, highway, exit, ramp,etc., which is usually associated with the type of map data, such asroad, nautical, aviation, topographical, or the like. In one embodiment,after two or more location updates are used to calculate a route, thesystem uses map data, such as road map data, to calculate an estimatedor predictive route.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andsystem for providing the capability to correlate location informationwith a known set of network pathways associated with the particular mapdata for determining the point on the network pathways nearest to thelocation information. This allows the route calculation to be the mostaccurate when using location updates that typically have some positionalerror associated with them, and when using map data that also has itsown positional error. In one embodiment, a mobile device is attached toa positioning device, such as a GPS receiver, that has a positionalerror typically on the order of 2-15 meters. Map data consists ofvarious segments of roadways, each of which typically has it ownpositional error, sometimes on the order of 2-50 meters. Since both themobile device and the map data typically have some positional error, andit is necessary to calculate a route using the map data, the map data ispreferably used as the datum, and the mobile device's locationinformation is “snapped-to” the nearest point or segment on the mapdata. That is, the location used for route calculation is preferably thepoint on the network pathways of the map data nearest to the actualmobile device's location. This allows the dynamic route calculation tobe as accurate as possible relative to the map data and location updatesfrom the mobile device.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for enabling the mobile device to send location updates to areceiving device or devices (i.e., broadcast) directly, in apeer-to-peer configuration, where the receiving device or devices can beclient-type devices, either mobile or stationary, or server-typedevices. In one embodiment, a mobile device is connected to a GPSreceiver that transmits its location information, via a wirelesscommunication network and the Internet, preferably at a frequency of oneupdate per second (i.e., 1 Hz) to another mobile device connected to adifferent wireless communication network and is connected to theInternet. In another embodiment, a mobile device sends its updatedposition information intermittently and directly (i.e., peer-to-peer) toan online server-computing device via a wireless communications networkand the Internet.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for enabling the mobile device to send location updates to areceiving computing device, either a client or server, by means of aserver, such as a centralized or distributed server system, that acts asa router and directs the location updates to the specific receivingcomputing and/or server device or devices (i.e., broadcast), which areeither mobile or stationary. In one embodiment, a mobile device isconnected to a GPS receiver that transmits its location information, viaa wireless connection and the Internet, preferably at a frequency of oneupdate every half a second (i.e., 2 Hz) to a centralized server that isconnected to the Internet and routes the location information to astationary computing device by means of an Internet connection.

In an alternative embodiment, a mobile device transmits its positioninformation periodically to a server that routes the location packetupdates to another server component or system for storage and real-timeor future dynamic estimated route calculation, performed at the servercomponent or system and then delivered to the stationary or mobilecomputing device. In this embodiment, the location packet updates can bedirectly delivered to the stationary or mobile computing device, inreal-time or from storage on the server, and the estimated routecalculation would be performed at the stationary or mobile computingdevice. In yet another embodiment, the estimated route calculation canbe preformed on the server, and then delivered to the stationary ormobile computing device.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for enabling the mobile device to store location updates to alocal storage medium, such as a hard disk drive or flash memory, on themobile device at various or specific intervals. The mobile device canthen calculate and display the estimated route information of the mobiledevices' journey locally. Additionally, the mobile device can transferthe location information to a remote client directly (i.e.,peer-to-peer) or to a server (i.e., peer-to-server), which can thendeliver the location information to a client (i.e., server-to-peer),which may include the estimated route already calculated. The transferto the remote client and/or server can occur using various transfermethods, such as wireless (e.g., Bluetooth, 802.11, etc.), infrared,wired (i.e., USB cable, etc.), or storage transfer (i.e., floppy disk,etc.). In one embodiment, a mobile device stores location informationover a period of time, and then, using a wireless connection, transmitsits location information to an in-vehicle navigation system, whichcalculates estimated route information using the discrete locationupdates that the mobile device recorded. Additionally, the transfer tothe in-vehicle navigation system could consist of using a floppy diskdrive to transfer said location update information.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for calculating estimated and predicted route informationusing various map data sets and location update information either onthe end client application, such as a graphical user interface (GUI)local application, or on a server application. The end client and serverapplications can calculate the route estimation and predictioninformation in real-time, or can store the location information (i.e.,location history information) and calculate the route estimation at alater time for delivery to the end user or client. Specifically, theserver application can calculate, in real-time or on demand (usingstored location history), the estimated route information for deliveryto the end client (i.e., mobile or stationary computing device), eitherthrough a web interface (i.e., Web Browser), web service, or othercommunication protocol and interface. The server application can alsocalculate the route estimate information and store the results on theserver for future deliver to the end client. The end client can alsocalculate the route estimation and prediction information in real-timeor store the location history information for post-processing the routeestimation information after it has been stored locally, such as inmemory or in the local computing device's hard disk drive, optical diskdrive, etc.

In one embodiment, a wireless mobile device sends its locationinformation to an online server, via a wireless communication networkand the Internet, every 60 seconds. The server routes the locationinformation to an end client that dynamically, and in real-time,calculates and displays the estimated route information of the mobilewireless device as the location updates arrive at the end client throughthe Internet connection to the online server. In another embodiment, awireless mobile device sends its location information to an onlineserver, via a wireless communication network and the Internet, everyperiod of predetermined time interval. The server stores the locationhistory information into an online server database. At a later time, andusing a web browser, the user of the mobile wireless device preferablylogs onto the online server and request to see the location historyinformation of their trek, including the estimated route information. Aserver application component uses, from the database, the storedlocation history records for the mobile device for the time past andpre-defined general route preferences to calculate the estimated routeinformation for the specific mobile device's journey on a known map dataset. In this embodiment, the location information points and estimatedroute information are displayed to the mobile device's user via a webbrowser end client.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for sending an information packet, accompanied with everydiscrete location packet, that provides additional information about thelocation point. In the event when a location update was not scheduled tobe transmitted and an information packet is transmitted, depending onthe type of location packet type, an ad-hoc location update can also betransmitted accompanying the information packet. The additionalinformation contained in this information packet consists of variouslocation-related information, such as stop information (e.g., origin,stop, via, destination), waypoint information (e.g., personal notes,etc.), PIM (Personal Information Management) information, Point ofInterest (POI) information (e.g., restaurants, gas stations, etc.), orthe like. In one embodiment, such as a dispatch application, a user of awireless mobile device, such as a wireless phone, arrives at acustomer's location and enters the location and other appropriateinformation about the customer into an application on the wirelessmobile device. The wireless mobile device then either locally stores thelocation and additional information, or remotely transmits theinformation to the remote client or online server.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for providing the capability of adding the location updateinformation (i.e., position information, such as GPS, etc.) and/orlocation information generated by a mobile device (i.e., POI, waypoint,etc.) to a route planner for the purpose of modifying the collection ofdiscrete location history information. In one embodiment, locationupdates periodically arrive to a dispatch client from a mobile wirelessdevice. The location updates can then be transferred to a route plannerapplication that allows the modification of the location update pointsprior to calculating the estimated route information. For instance, if alocation update illustrates a point on a specific highway, but themobile device should have been traveling on a different highway, thenthat point can be moved to the appropriate highway prior to thecalculation of the estimated route. Additionally, the estimated routecan be calculated prior to modifying the location history updateinformation or in real-time as the location updates arrive, since theestimated route information provides graphical information that wouldaid the user in modifying the location history information. In anotherembodiment, as location updates arrive to a dispatch client, thelocation update points are typically defined as via points, but the viapoints can be changed to other destination points, such as a stop,origin, or destination end point, thus providing route planningcapabilities on the discrete location updates. Additionally, thesedestination points can be accompanied by additional information, such asnotes, start/departure time, stop duration, etc.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for saving, either on a server or locally, the calculatedestimated route information and/or the location history informationincluding the specific route preferences used to calculate the route.The estimated route information range (i.e., date, time, position, etc.)can be selected to indicate the starting and ending point boundaries forthe route and/or location history information to be saved. In oneembodiment, location updates periodically are received via the Internetand are displayed on a map display. With every location update received,an estimated route is calculated based on various route preferences. Theuser can select the displayed location history information withestimated route information and save it locally or to a remote server.Additionally, the user can select a subset of the entire estimated routeand/or location history information and save only that portion to thelocal hard disk drive or flash memory, or to the online server forretrieval from other networked devices.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for calculating estimated route information, such as drivingdistance, using discrete sampled location update information and basedon various user or device-defined route preferences. In one embodiment,using location history information, an estimated route is calculatedbased on a set of user route preferences (e.g., shortest time, etc.).After an estimated route has been created based on the location historyinformation and various route preferences, the total driving distancecan then be computed. A subset of information can also be illustrated,such as driving instructions (i.e., Turn Right onto Lawrence Road,etc.), heading, distance, and elapsed time for each portion of theestimated route, including summary information for the estimated route,such as total driving distance traveled.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodand system for calculating an estimated route for multiplelocation-relevant ‘satellite’ points, such as a mobile device, to orfrom a ‘central’ destination or origin location point, where theestimated route is calculated relative to a known set, or sets, of mapdata, and the resulting estimated routes are ordered according tovarious metrics. These ordering calculation metrics may includepreferences such as shortest time, shortest distance, most use ofhighways, most use of surface streets, least amount of traffic, leastamount of cost, such as fuel usage for each mobile satellite and/orcentral point (which in this case can be considered to be a mobile motorvehicle), or the like. The central satellite destination or origin pointcan be a place, such as a POI (i.e., address, house, landmark, etc.), ora stationary or mobile device, where the mobile device's location isprovided in real-time or from a cached location either locally, wherethe estimate route is calculated, or on the server system. The estimatedroute is based on various route preferences such as Driving Speeds,Route Optimization Goals, Road Preferences, etc., where each of thesatellite points and/or central point can have estimated routes based onindividual route preferences for each mobile or stationary point. Thesatellite points or central point can include real-time location updatesfrom mobile devices, and known position points, such as POIs (i.e.,stationary points), or the like. In one embodiment, an applicationdefines an entered address as the central point, which is, for thisembodiment, a stationary point.

Using the location updates from the mobile devices surrounding thegeneral area of the address, the application calculates in real-time anestimated route from each of the satellite mobile devices to the centraladdress. The application then uses the total travel distance of theestimated route from each of the mobile devices to the central addresslocation and calculates the estimated travel time for each mobile deviceto travel from their current location to the central address location.This time calculation is based on various route preferences and map datafor each of the satellite mobile devices, such as the posted drivingspeed of the roads, number of stop lights required and the typical timespent at each stop light, etc. After calculating the estimated distanceand time for each satellite mobile device (i.e., satellite impliessurrounding the central address point), the mobile devices arepreferably ranked or sorted based on various metrics, such as distance,time, fuel usage, etc. In another embodiment, the central point isanother mobile device, and using real-time location updates, theestimated routes are dynamically calculated, in real-time, for a mobiledevice when an update on its location is received.

Details of the various embodiments of the present invention will befurther explained below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system for providing a communicationchannel between various different computing devices;

FIG. 2 illustrates an aspect of the present invention showing areal-time communications program with an integrated mapping environmentthat graphically displays various location-relevant objects on a map;

FIG. 3 illustrates another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying a road network of streets in a map display;

FIG. 4 illustrates another aspect of the present invention fordynamically plotting various location update points on a map displaythat originated from a mobile device;

FIG. 4A illustrates another aspect of the present invention for using asnap-to algorithm for determining the line segment of the map data thatis nearest to location updates from a mobile device;

FIG. 4B is a pictorial example of how location update information canarrive both asynchronously and synchronously from a mobile device;

FIG. 5 illustrates another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying various possible routes between two points inspace that are correlated against map data;

FIG. 6 illustrates another aspect of the present invention for providingthe most accurate estimated route between two location update points inreal-time using various route preferences;

FIG. 7 illustrates another aspect of the present invention for providingan additional estimated route between two location update points inreal-time;

FIG. 8 illustrates another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the start of a predictive route calculation;

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying all of the possible predictive route calculationsat a fork or juncture of the map data;

FIG. 10 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying all of the possible predictive route calculationsbetween an origin point and a destination point along a route resultingfrom a set of route preferences;

FIG. 11 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying a prior art location history trail of locationpoints on a map display;

FIG. 12 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the estimated route based on a set of locationhistory points;

FIG. 13 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying a real-time location update point in addition tothe previous estimated route calculation;

FIG. 14 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying a real-time route calculation based on trackingthe mobile device that is periodically sending its location updates;

FIG. 15 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the entire location history trail in addition tothe real-time tracked location updates;

FIG. 16 illustrates yet another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying an entire estimated route specificallyillustrating the updated real-time estimated route calculations for themost recent location update points;

FIG. 17 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the entire estimated route based on a set oflocation history points;

FIG. 18 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically changing a location update point to a Route Origin point;

FIG. 19 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically changing a location update point to a Route Destinationpoint;

FIG. 20 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically changing a location update point to a Route Stop point;

FIG. 21 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically changing a location update point to a Route Via point;

FIG. 22 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically saving an estimated route to a route planner andillustrating the capability to clear the current estimated route andlocation points;

FIG. 23 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the location update points added to a routeplanner window for modifying and/or saving the estimated route;

FIG. 24 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically saving a calculated route after it has been added to theroute planner window.

FIG. 25 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the estimated route calculations from variousmobile devices to a centralized stationary position or other mobiledevice; and

FIG. 26 illustrates still another aspect of the present invention forgraphically displaying the sorting order of the previous figure'sestimated route calculation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

The various embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith references to FIGS. 1-26.

The present invention provides a method and system for creating,storing, and displaying dynamic route prediction and estimation usingdiscrete sampled location update information. The dynamic routeprediction and estimation can be further augmented using additionalinformation pertaining to the location points, such as stop or waypointinformation. Additional route information can be obtained from thismethod and system including various route metrics, such as total elapseddistance, etc. The present invention may be embodied within or alongwith a mapping and real-time communication application.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level diagram of an environment in which theinvention may be implemented. The embodiment of the present inventionwill be described in the general context of an application that executeson an operating system in conjunction with a personal computer orserver, but those skilled in the art will realize that this inventionmay also be implemented in combination with other program modules.Furthermore, this invention is not limited to a typical personalcomputer, but may also be utilized with other computing systems, such ashandheld devices, mobile laptop computers, wireless phones, in-vehiclenavigation systems, programmable consumer electronics, mainframecomputers, distributed computer systems, etc., and the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network server and client system for sending andreceiving packets of data information, such as location updates, andincludes a typical mobile positioning device, such as a wireless device,but those skilled in the art will appreciate that this may also includean optical or wired mobile device. The mobile device 100 includes or isattached via a connection interface 101, to a positioning device 102,such as a GPS receiver. In one embodiment, the position device canreceive position-aiding information by mean of a wireless connection,either a separate wireless connection 105 or by means of the primarywireless connection 103 that the wireless device uses to send datawirelessly to the wireless base station 104. The wireless base station104 provides the interface, typically a connection 110 to the Internet,Intranet, or Extranet 111, but those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the connection may include a wireless communication network, suchas a telephone network. Additionally, other mobile computing devices 107can also be supported by the wireless base station 104 through varioustypes of connections 106, such as a TDMA, CDMA, or the like, connection.In one embodiment, there are preferably five primary architectures ofrouting location updates, amongst other location-relevant information,to the local or to other computing devices, which may be either astationary 108 or mobile computing device 107, or a server system 125,or the like. In this embodiment, a server system preferably includes aXML router 115 for routing the location update packets, a positiondevice server gateway 113 that connects to various mobile devices, adatabase 124 for storing the location information, a web page serverclient 118 for calculating on the server the estimated routeinformation, and a web server 121 for delivering the locationinformation or estimated route information to the end client. Thevarious primary architectures for routing location updates preferablyinclude:

-   -   1. Local Display, No Routing of Location Updates.    -   2. Peer-to-Peer    -   3. Peer-to-Server, then Server-to-Peer    -   4. Peer-to-Local Storage Device, then Local Storage Device        (i.e., Peer)-to-Peer    -   5. Peer-to-Local Storage Device, then Local Storage Device        (i.e., Peer)-to-Server, then to Peer

The first architecture does not route its location updates, but onlydisplays them on the mobile computing device's 100 local display.

The second routing architecture is a peer-to-peer (P2P) model. In thisembodiment, a P2P architecture includes a mobile wireless device 100that obtains its position updates through various interfaces 101 orpositioning devices 102, all which are known to those skilled in theart. The location update is routed from the mobile wireless device 100,through the wireless connection 103 to the wireless base station 104.The wireless base station 104 then routes, typically using an IP (i.e.,TCP or UDP) protocol, to the appropriate other device, which is either amobile device 107 connected 106 using the same or different wirelessbase station 104, or is a stationary computing device 108, which istypically connected 109 to the Internet, or the like. The remote peercan also be a server system 125 that would receive, calculate, anddisplay the route information (i.e., estimated route information,predictive route information, total distance traveled, etc.).

A third route architecture is a peer-to-server (P2S), then aserver-to-peer (S2P) model. In one embodiment, a P2S architecture issimilar to the P2P architecture, except that the end device is a server.In this embodiment, the wireless mobile device 100 obtains its locationinformation from a positioning device 102. The discrete location updateinformation is then transmitted 103 to the wireless base station 104that is connected 110 to the Internet 111. The server system's 125positioning device gateway 113 is also connected 112 to the Internet111, and is capable of receiving location update packets from the mobilewireless device sending said packets. Thus the mobile wireless device100 is capable of transmitting its discrete location update informationto the server system (i.e., P2S). The same, or another client, such as astationary computing device 108 (i.e., a personal computer) is alsoconnected 109 to the Internet 111. The stationary computing device 108has a connection to the server system 125 preferably by means of the XMLRouter 115, that is also connected to the Internet 111. If the discretelocation packets are sent by the mobile wireless device 100, they arriveat the server system's 125 positioning device gateway, and are thenpreferably routed 114 to the XML Router 115 which then forwards thelocation packets to the stationary computing device 108 via the Internet111 and the XML Router's Internet connection 120. The discrete locationpackets are then sent to the stationary computing device 108 preferablyby means of a dedicated Internet connection 109, which is the S2P partof the third routing architecture. In another embodiment, the peerdevice in the S2P portion of the model could be a different mobiledevice 107, or even the same mobile device 100 that is transmitting thelocation updates.

It should be noted that the location information could also be obtainedby means of a server connected to the mobile wireless device 100 at itslocation, thus sending the location update information directly to theInternet 111, or the like, and to the server system 125. This scenarioalso applies for all of the other architectures of routing locationupdate information. As it will be appreciated to those skilled in theart, the position information obtained for calculating the discretelocation information can vary across networks that use varioustechnology implementations, such as E-OTD, TOA, AOA, gpsOne fromQualcomm, SnapTrack Servers, Assisted-GPS, etc., which are known tothose skilled in the art.

A fourth architecture includes a mobile device (i.e., where the mobiledevice does not need to be a wireless device, such as a non-wirelessPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA)) that captures the location informationfrom a positioning device and stores it locally, such as in its harddisk drive, optical drive, local memory (i.e., Flash, SDRAM, etc.),floppy disk drive, etc. The mobile device can then transfer its storeddiscrete location information to another computing device, eitherstationary or mobile, using various methods. These transfer methodsinclude, but are not limited to, the use of an infrared connection,floppy disk, Bluetooth connection, removable hard drive, or the like.This architecture is denoted as a peer-to-peer local (i.e., storagedevice) transfer, followed by a peer-to-peer transfer (P2L-P2P).

A fifth architecture includes a mobile device that captures locationhistory and stores it locally as previously mentioned. At a later pointin time, the location history information is transferred to the onlineserver system 125 through the previously mentioned methods, or the like.Once the data is stored on the server, the S2P model can be used toretrieve the store information. Location history information can bestored completely on the server and, by request, be transferred to anend peer client, such as a stationary computing device 108 or a mobilecomputing device 107 using either a wireless 106 or dedicated landlineconnection, such as an Ethernet cable.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the end clients, such as the stationarycomputing device 108 or mobile computing device 107, can directlyinteract with each other through the provided system, or directly withthe server systems 125. For instance, a personal computer 108 canrequest to view estimated route information through a web serverapplication 118 that interfaces to the server system's 125 database 124.The web server application 118 can display the estimated routeinformation to the stationary computing device 108 using its interface123 to the web server 121, the web server's connection 122 to theInternet 111, and a dedicated connection 109 from the Internet 111 tothe stationary computing device 108. The estimated route information, inthis embodiment, is calculated on the server system 125 in the webserver application 118 and displayed to the end client 108 using the webserver 121.

In another embodiment, the discrete location history information istransferred from the server system 125 to the end client 108 by theprimary means of the Internet 111 and the direct connections thatinterface 120, 122 to the Internet with the end client 108 and XMLRouter 115. The XML Router 115 routes the location history informationto the end client 108 from its storage place in the database 124contained in the online server system 125. The estimated routeinformation is then preferably calculated and displayed on the endclient 108. The online server system 125 is displayed as a centralizedserver system, but can also embody a distributed server system, which iswell known to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 2 illustrates an application screen display of the Real-TimeCommunication and Mapping Program (RTCMP) 201 with a map display ofseveral geographical objects in a map window 202 below a menu bar 200.The map display 202 contains a route estimate 207 starting with aninitial point 204 (i.e., origin), an intermediate point 205 (i.e., viaor stop), and an end point 206 (i.e., destination). A typical graphicalusers interface (GUI) program (i.e., RTCMP) 201 is best utilized with anicon pointer 203, typically known as a mouse icon pointer to thoseskilled in the art. A route 207 preferably includes an origin 204 andone or more destination points 205 & 206, which can each be considered a“link”. The route is illustrated as a series of links, such as linkbetween the origin point 204 and the first destination point 205. Itshould be noted and appreciated to those skilled in the art that a linkis not typically a straight line as illustrated in the sample map, butrather follows the topography of the roadways calculated between tworoute points, such as an origin 204 and destination 205 point. However,for simplicity, all links are illustrated as straight lines.

FIG. 3 illustrates a map display 202 that shows a network of streets,such as Colorado Boulevard 300, Lawrence Road 302; Madison Avenue 303,and Tea Street 301, amongst other surface streets. FIG. 4 illustrates aseries of location updates, such as Point T1 400 (Colorado Blvd.), PointT2 401 (Madison Ave.), and Point T3 402 (NIM Rd.). These locationupdates illustrate the course of a mobile vehicle's path versus time, asillustrated in FIG. 4B. Note in FIG. 4B that the location updates canarrive asynchronously and independently of each other relative to theother location updates (i.e., they are mutually exclusive). Forinstance, Point T1 423 arrives at an initial time, while Point T2 424arrives at a significantly later time compared to the time differencebetween Points T2 424 and T3 425.

It should be noted and appreciated to those skilled in the art thatlocation update points, such as Point T1 400 of FIG. 4, have apositional error associated with it, typically referred to as a circularerror probability or error radius. This error radius is due to theoriginal calculation of the position coordinates on the device or byusing the device's characteristics (e.g., Time-of-Arrival (TOA) LocationEstimation), and is typically due to the datum used, GPS satellite orbiterror, multipath, or the like. Additionally, map data also has its owninherent positional error typically associated with every element, suchas a highway or surface street. The goal for calculating the estimatedroute, as people skilled in the art will appreciate, is to correlate thelocation update position of the mobile device with the most likelyposition on the map data. Once a point in the map data has been chosen,or Snapped-To, estimated and/or predicted routes can be calculated withgreater efficiency and accuracy.

FIG. 4A illustrates several location updates 404, 403, 406, & 405 eachwith its own positional accuracy superimposed on the map data'spositional accuracy of roads, such as 9^(th) Street 421, 10^(th) Street420, and Bear Road 419 & 422. Using the map data as the current datum,it is necessary to “snap” the location update information to the mostlikely road position on the map data that a location update pointactually represents. This is a moot point if, for example, the locationupdate information is accompanied with other location-relevantinformation, such as an address. If this is the case, then the point onthe street can be GEO-Coded, which allows the address information to becompared against an additional file, typically contained in the mapdata, where the file provides the latitude and longitude position of thedevice in the map data, such as on 9^(th) Street 416. GEO-Coding is aterm widely known to people skilled in the art.

If location update information (i.e., latitude, longitude, altitude,etc.) is the only information provided, then the actual positions of thelocation updates on the map data roads must be determined. For example,Point-1 404 appears to be either on 9^(th) Street 416 or Bear Road 422.The preferred method used to calculate the most probable map data pointfor Point-1 404, considering the error probability of Point-1 404, wouldbe the point on a road nearest to the location update point, asdescribed by the following method: 1) Extend an error radius 408 thatcreates a circle 412 from the center of the location update 404; and 2)as the circle radius 408 is increased, determine the road segment fromthe map data that first intersects the newly created circle 412.

As shown in FIG. 4A, that point is illustrated 416 on 9^(th) Street 421.As people skilled in the art will appreciate, this point 416 also has astreet address, but it is omitted in this example. This same approach isapplied to all location update points shown in FIG. 4A, such as Point-1404, Point-2 403, Point-3 406, and Point-4 405. Each location updatepoint is snapped-to the nearest road segment, such as 416, 415, 418, &417, using the same circle test 412, 411, 414, & 413 and circle radius408, 407, 410, & 409 illustrated in FIG. 4A.

As shown in FIG. 5, there are various pathways that can result from aroute computation between Points T1 400 and T2 401, a subset of whichare illustrated in FIG. 5. For instance, the possible routes from PointT1 400 and Point T2 illustrated include, but are not limited to 500,501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, and 509. As an example, route500 travels north on Colorado Boulevard 300 and then East on MadisonAvenue 303 until Point T2 401 is reached. The estimated route, fromPoint T1 400 to Point T2 401, is based on various general routepreferences, and can be greatly improved when the route preferences aretailored to the specific mobile device, such as in the case of a truckwhich would only be allowed to travel on major roads, while a car cantransverse major and minor road networks. These route preferences caninclude various categories, such as Driving Speeds, Route OptimizationGoal, Road Preferences, etc. For example, Driving Speeds illustratesvarious types of average speeds the specific motor vehicle travels overvarious type of roads, such as Interstate Highways Average Speed, OtherHighways Average Speed, Arterial Roads Average Speed, Surface StreetsAverage Speed, or the like. In this embodiment, Route Optimization Goalrepresents either the Fastest Route or the Shortest Route, while RoadPreferences illustrates whether the motor vehicle typically avoidsHighways, Arterial Roads, or Toll Roads. These and other preferencesallow the route estimation to more closely approximate the actual routemost likely traveled by the motor vehicle when it provided the discretelocation update information.

Using the provided route preferences, the most probable route 600 thatthe mobile device traveled between Point T1 400 and Point T2 401 isillustrated in FIG. 6. This route includes the shortest distance andfastest time route between the two points. The route informationincludes driving directions, such as “North on Colorado Blvd for 0.2miles, Right onto Tea Street heading East for 0.4 miles, Left ontoIndependence Road heading North for 0.35 miles, Right onto MadisonAvenue heading East for 120 yards, Arrive at Destination”. In thisembodiment, this route is dynamically created upon the receipt of PointT2 401, given that Point T1 400 has already been received and displayedon the application.

The process is completed when Point T3 402 is received from the mobiledevice and a new route is estimated and displayed, as shown in FIG. 7.As people skilled in the art will appreciate, this process providessignificantly more information to the user and application compared tohaving only the points displayed on the map, straight lines between thepoints, or arrows at the points indicating the heading of the device atthat specific point.

Also contained in this invention is the process of calculatingpredictive routes. An estimated route is computed upon the arrival ofeach location update, and at least 2 location updates are needed tocompute an estimated route. A predictive route graphically illustratesthe mobile device's location when a location update is received, and apredicted estimate of its current location, based on metrics such asspeed, heading, etc., until the next location update arrives. In oneembodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, if an origin point 800 and destinationpoint 801 are known, and the origin update arrives at a given time,using either the road speed limit or the mobile device's typical speed(i.e., motor vehicle, bicycle, runner, etc.), a predictive route can becalculated. For example, given that point 800 is the starting point, andusing the expected velocity and system time, it is possible to computethe average distance traveled as a factor of time(Distance=F(t)=Velocity*Time) and display that information withoutrequiring the known or expected position of the next or destinationpoint 801. At a time of 2 seconds later, a scalar distance 807 iscomputed and displayed as a highlighted partial route up to the point802. At a time of 3 seconds later, a scalar distance 806 is computed anddisplayed as a highlighted partial route up to the point 803. At a timeof 4 seconds later, a scalar distance 805 is computed and displayed as ahighlighted partial route up to the point 804. This process is continueduntil a fork in the road is encountered. This is further illustrated byFIG. 9.

In another example, once a fork in the road is encountered, as shown inFIG. 9, the previous points 900, 904, 905, 906 are already drawn. Thepossible pathways the vehicle can continue moving along are: 1). Thesame road (North), 2). Turn Left (West), or 3). Turn Right (East). Ifthe system did not know a priori the destination point 902, then thepredicted route would display all possible routes. For example, afterpoint 906 is received from the mobile device, and 1 second later, routesto points 907, 910, and 915 would be calculated and displayed. At a timeof 2 seconds later, routes to points 908, 911, and 914 would be drawn.At a time of 3 seconds later, routes to points 909, 912, and 913 wouldbe calculated and displayed. In this embodiment, once the next locationupdate 901 arrives, the other route legs that do not lead towards thenew point 901 (i.e., 915, 914, 913, and 910, 911, and 912) would beerased and the route from point 900 to 901 would be displayed.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, this same process would be completed for allknown forks in the road. For example, having the route 1003 drawn frompoint 1000 to 1001 and continuing at various time intervals based on theexpected speed of the mobile device, all possible forks 1012, 1010,1011, 1013, 1008, 1009, 1014, 1007, 1006, 1005 can be drawn until thenext location update is provided 1002. Using the last known position1001 with the expected destination 1002 to calculate the best estimatedroute between the 2 points can narrow down the possible routes andfurther mitigate excessive drawing.

Illustrating a breadcrumb history with only points and/or direct lineshas significant limitations. As people skilled in the art willappreciate, computing a dynamic estimated route, based on various routepreferences, provides a significant benefit over prior art. FIG. 11illustrates a typical breadcrumb history trail. The trail consists ofpoints 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, and 1108, all inchronological order of the mobile devices path. The problem is that theuser does not know looking at this location history information wherethe device actually traveled. Since the location history information isdiscrete in nature, it is impossible to derive the actual route traveledby the mobile device without additional information and/or providinglocation history information at a significantly higher frequency.

Calculating an estimated route 1201, as illustrated in FIG. 12, providesthe breadcrumb history trail with significantly more visual informationand metric information, such as total driving distance, or the like. Theestimated route provides a much closer approximation to the actualdriven route that the mobile device traveled. The estimated routecalculation can be tailored using extensive route (e.g., driving)preferences that are specific to the mobile device.

FIG. 13 illustrates a new location update 1301 which arrives inreal-time and is displayed on the map display.

FIG. 14 illustrates the new estimated route leg 1401 calculated betweenPoint-8 1108 and Point-9 1301. As people skilled in the art willappreciate, it is not necessary to compute an entire new route for theentire breadcrumb trail, but only the portion of the estimated routethat needs to be calculated. As shown in FIG. 14, the original estimatedroute 1201 does not need to be recalculated, but only the new additionalestimated route segment 1401 needs to be calculated.

The present invention can also allow a user to pull the entire locationhistory information from a server or the mobile device in a number ofways, such as wirelessly, over the Internet, through a floppy disk, etc.As shown in FIG. 15, the entire location history trail was pulled from aserver. The trail includes the previously noted points 1101, 1102, 1103,1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1301, as well as the new additional points 1501,1502, 1503, 1504, and 1505 that are added in real-time from the mobiledevice. These location history points are preferably numbered in theirchronological order according to the time that the mobile devicerecorded them. As illustrated in FIG. 16, an estimated route 1201 ispreferably displayed for the previous location history points, and thenewly updated real-time estimated routes are preferably displayed aseach new location update arrives, either via a server (P2S-S2P) ordirectly from the device (P2P). The new estimated routes, calculated inreal-time as the location updates arrive to the application, areillustrated as 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, and 1605. Shown in FIG. 17 arethe entire location history trail points as they were captured from themobile device. Each one of these points 1701, 1702, 1703, 1704, 1705,1706, 1707, 1708, 1709, 1710, 1711, 1712, 1713, and 1714 are considered“via” points (i.e., a pass through point).

Another embodiment of the present invention also allows the capabilityto change the individual location update points, such as in a routeplanner or directly on the map display. As illustrated in FIG. 18, usingan icon pointer 1803 and selecting the desired point 1801, it ispossible to change the point 1801 to a different type of destinationpoint, such as an origin, via, stop, or destination point (by default,all points are vias). For example, selecting the desired location point1801 using the icon pointer 1803 and selecting the focus on the map ofthe desired location point 1801, a pop-up window 1802 will openillustrating the various destination point types that the currentlocation point type can be changed to. Using the icon pointer 1803 andselecting 1804 the desired destination type, in this case a routeorigin, it is possible to change the route point attributes.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the route Point-14 1901 can be selected usingan icon pointer causing a pop-up window 1902 to appear. The selected1904 destination point is changed using the icon pointer 1903 to thedesired type, a route destination. As illustrated in FIG. 20, the routePoint-11 2001 can also be selected using an icon pointer causing apop-up window 2002 to appear. The selected 2004 destination point ischanged using the icon pointer 2003 to select the desired type, a routestop. In FIG. 21, the route Point-5 2101 is again selected using an iconpointer 2003 causing a pop-up window 2102 to appear. The selected 2103destination point is changed using the icon pointer 2103 to select thedesired type, a route via.

It should be noted that the entire estimated route could be saved orcleared. In one embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 22, selecting the entireroute 2201 with the icon pointer 2203 causes a pop-up window 2202 toappear where the desired action can be selected 2204 using the iconpointer 2204. Additionally, as people skilled in the art willappreciate, individual points can be modified, moved or deleted, and newpoints can be added to the route. This is possible by adding thehighlighted estimated route or location history points into a routeplanner where all of these modifications can be implemented either inthe planner or on the map display.

Illustrated in FIG. 23 is the Map Messenger™ program 2309. The program2309 contains a menu bar 2304, a tool bar 2305, a map display 2305, anda route planner window 2301. The location history trail with itsestimated route 2306 calculated using the aforementioned method andsystem consists of 14 route points. After adding the points to the routeplanner window 2301, in this embodiment, the first 2310 and last 2311points of the estimated route 2306 are changed to an origin 2302 anddestination 2304 route point, respectively. Each of the other individualroute points 2307 are also added to the route planner window 2301, andin the same order are displayed on the map display 2305. The routeplanner window 2301 illustrates all of the location points and theaddresses 2303 of the location points. Using the route planner window2301, it is possible to modify the route completely by adding points,deleting points, moving points, or the like. As people skilled in theart will appreciate, the route planner window 2310 gives the usercomplete control over the location history trail and estimated route2306, in the event that they want to modify it at anytime. Alsoillustrated in FIG. 23, is the capability to save a route 2308. After aroute is in the route planner window 2301, all of the specificinformation can be saved, either locally or on the server system 125.

FIG. 24 illustrates the window 2405 for saving a route, which includes aplace to enter a file name 2403 and a mechanism for selecting thedirectory 2402 to save the route within and the account 2404 to save theroute to. To save the final route, the icon pointer 2401 is preferablyused to select the save button 2406. The route is then stored eitherlocally or on the server system 125, which is then available for laterretrieval.

In another embodiment, a user wishing to calculate which mobile deviceis closest to a particular single location, or single mobile device,when using real-time location updates from each of the mobile devicescan significantly improving the sorting calculation and decision processwhen compared to Line-Of-Sight (LOS) distance calculations which arecurrently used in the prior art. As people skilled in the art willappreciate, calculating the estimated route in real-time, or based onthe current position information for each mobile device, willsignificantly improve the decision making process in determining whichmobile device is closest to the central point. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 25 showing a map display with various locationpoints 2501, 2502, 2503, 2504, 2505, 2506, & 2507, which each representthe location of either a mobile device 2502, 2503, 2504, 2505, 2506, &2507, and the location of a house (i.e., POI) 2501. The location of thehouse 2501 represents the pick-up location, as in a dispatching softwareapplication, where the person at the house wants to receivetransportation to the airport from a cab. The requirements for thiscustomer are that they need a vehicle with a capacity to hold 3passengers to pick them up at the house in 15 minutes. The localdispatch application computes the vehicle best suited to meet thecustomer's needs by first performing a search for vehicles in the areathat can support 3 or more passengers, and then calculating theestimated route for each of the mobile vehicles from their currentlocation to the pick-up location.

The estimated route preferably uses the provided map data to calculatethe route, and is based on various vehicle-specific route preferencesand map data information, such as one-way streets, posted road speeds,turn restrictions, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 25, there are specificestimated routes 2508, 2509, 2510, 2511, 2512, & 2513 for each of themobile vehicles' current locations 2502, 2503, 2504, 2505, 2506, & 2507,respectively. Each of the estimated routes is relative to the map data'sroad network. The sort order of the mobile vehicles is furtherillustrated by the numbering of each vehicle's position 2502, 2503,2504, 2505, 2506, & 2507, where the lower the number is (i.e., two (2)is the closet), the closer to the pick-up location 2501 the vehicle is.The pick-up location is shown as the numeral one (1) in FIG. 25.

FIG. 26 illustrates an accompanying window 2601 for the map display ofFIG. 25 and shows the various metrics, such as distance 2604, time 2605,fuel usage 2606, and number of passengers 2607, that the dispatchapplication user can use to determine the ‘closest’ 2602 mobile vehiclerelative to the pick-up location 2501, according to the calculation ofeach mobile vehicle's estimated route to the customer's location 2501.The sorting order of the illustrated mobile vehicles 2502, 2503, 2504,2505, 2506, & 2507, is based on, in this embodiment, the time 2605 anddistance 2604 required to arrive at the customer's address 2603 location2501. Each vehicle is sorted based on 1). its being the closest (i.e.,distance 2604) to the customer's 2501 address 2603, and 2). it requiringthe least amount of travel time 2605 from each mobile vehicle's currentlocation 2502, 2503, 2504, 2505, 2506, & 2507, to the customer's pick-uplocation 2501, which was originally derived from the customer's address2603 information. The mobile vehicle that is ‘closest’ 2602 to thepick-up location 2051 is illustrated as “Vehicle 1257—Bill's Taxi—Car”2613, along side other information such as the driver's name and thetype of taxi (i.e., a car). The sorting order indicates that thisvehicle 2613 is the closest vehicle to the pick-up location 2501, sinceit is numbered as two (2) 2614 (i.e., the closest number to the addresslocation, numbered (1) 2616) on the current sort display 2601. The“Estimated Route Order” display 2601 also illustrates various drivingmetrics to the pick-up location, such as distance (i.e., 3 miles 2609),time 2605 (i.e., 5 minutes 2610), fuel usage 2610 (i.e., 0.5 gallons2611), and information about its vehicle, such as the number ofpassengers 2607 (i.e., 4 passengers 2612). The fuel usage field 2606 ispreferably calculated based on the specific vehicle's fuel compensationand the total travel distance and time.

It should be noted that the present invention may be embodied in formsother than the preferred embodiments described above without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The specificationcontained herein provides sufficient disclosure for one skilled in theart to implement the various embodiments of the present invention,including the preferred embodiment, which should be considered in allaspect as illustrative and not restrictive; all changes or alternativesthat fall within the meaning and range or equivalency of the claim areintended to be embraced within.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electronic navigation method,comprising: receiving a starting location associated with a mobilecomputing device, the starting location being in reference to map data;receiving a destination location, the destination location being inreference to the map data; determining a plurality of possible routesfrom the starting location to the destination location by performing aroute computation between the starting location and the destinationlocation using map data, the plurality of possible routes being inreference to the map data; for each of the plurality of possible routes,obtaining a travel time to the destination location; and in response tothe mobile computing device traveling along one of the plurality ofpossible routes, (i) determining a plurality of locations of the mobilecomputing device from location information obtained from the mobilecomputing device, (ii) causing the mobile computing device to display ona map generated using the map data (a) the plurality of possible routes,(b) the travel time to the destination for at least one of the pluralityof possible routes along which the mobile computing device is traveling,and (c) an indication of the plurality of locations of the mobilecomputing device, and (iii) causing the mobile computing device to atleast one of (a) display on the map a new possible route from a currentlocation of the mobile computing device to the destination location and(b) remove a previously displayed possible route from the startinglocation to the current location of the mobile computing device.
 2. Theelectronic navigation method of claim 1, wherein the mobile computingdevice is a mobile communication device.
 3. The electronic navigationmethod of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises obtaining one ormore route preferences associated with the mobile computing device. 4.The electronic navigation method of claim 3, wherein the method furthercomprises determining the plurality of possible routes between thestarting location and the destination location by performing the routecomputation using the one or more route preferences.
 5. The electronicnavigation method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprisesenabling a user of the mobile computing device to share the currentlocation with another mobile computing device.
 6. The electronicnavigation method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprisesenabling a user of the mobile computing device to share the currentlocation with another mobile computing device using at least one of: (a)a peer-to-peer architecture; (b) a peer-to-server architecture; (c) aserver-to-peer architecture; (d) a peer-to-local storage devicearchitecture; (e) a local storage device-to-peer architecture; and (f) alocal storage device-to-server architecture.
 7. A computing apparatuscomprising: at least one memory comprising computer executableinstructions and at least one processor configured to execute thecomputer executable instructions, wherein the computer executableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause thecomputing apparatus to, receive a starting location associated with amobile computing device, the starting location being in reference to mapdata, receive a destination location, the destination location being inreference to the map data, determine a plurality of possible routes fromthe starting location to the destination location by performing a routecomputation between the starting location and the destination locationusing map data, the plurality of possible routes being in reference tothe map data, for each of the plurality of possible routes, obtain atravel time to the destination location, and in response to the mobilecomputing device traveling along one of the plurality of possibleroutes, (i) determine a plurality of locations of the mobile computingdevice from location information obtained from the mobile computingdevice, (ii) cause the mobile computing device to display on a mapgenerated using the map data (a) the plurality of possible routes, (b)the travel time to the destination for at least one of the plurality ofpossible routes along which the mobile computing device is traveling,and (c) an indication of the plurality of locations of the mobilecomputing device, and (iii) cause the mobile computing device to atleast one of (a) display on the map a new possible route from a currentlocation of the mobile computing device to the destination location and(b) remove a previously displayed possible route from the startinglocation to the current location of the mobile computing device.
 8. Thecomputing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the mobile computing device is amobile communication device.
 9. The computing apparatus of claim 7,wherein the computer executable instructions when executed by the atleast one processor further cause the computing apparatus to obtain oneor more route preferences associated with the mobile computing device.10. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer executableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor further causethe computing apparatus to determine the plurality of possible routesbetween the starting location and the destination location by performingthe route computation using the one or more route preferences.
 11. Thecomputing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer executableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor further causethe computing apparatus to share the current location with anothermobile computing device.
 12. The computing apparatus of claim 7, whereinthe computer executable instructions when executed by the at least oneprocessor further cause the computing apparatus to share the currentlocation with another mobile computing device using at least one of: (a)a peer-to-peer architecture; (b) a peer-to-server architecture; (c) aserver-to-peer architecture; (d) a peer-to-local storage devicearchitecture; (e) a local storage device-to-peer architecture; and (f) alocal storage device-to-server architecture.
 13. An electronicnavigation method, comprising: receiving a starting location associatedwith a mobile computing device, the starting location being in referenceto a point on a map; receiving a destination location, the destinationlocation being in reference to data point on a map; determining aplurality of possible routes from the starting location to thedestination location by performing a route computation between thestarting location and the destination location using map data, theplurality of possible routes being in reference to the map data; foreach of the plurality of possible routes, obtaining a travel time to thedestination location; and in response to the mobile computing devicetraveling along one of the plurality of possible routes, (i) determininga plurality of locations of the mobile computing device from locationinformation obtained from the mobile computing device, (ii) causing themobile computing device to display on a map generated using the map data(a) the plurality of possible routes, (b) the travel time to thedestination for at least one of the plurality of possible routes alongwhich the mobile computing device is traveling, and (c) an indication ofthe plurality of locations of the mobile computing device, and (iii)causing the mobile computing device to modify or remove at least one ofthe plurality of possible routes based on the map data and a currentlocation of the mobile computing device and cause the mobile device todisplay on the map an indication of the modification or the removal ofthe at least one of the possible routes.
 14. The electronic navigationmethod of claim 13, wherein the mobile computing device is a mobilecommunication device.
 15. The electronic navigation method of claim 13,wherein the method further comprises obtaining one or more routepreferences associated with the mobile computing device.
 16. Theelectronic navigation method of claim 15, wherein the method furthercomprises determining the plurality of possible routes between thestarting location and the destination location by performing the routecomputation using the one or more route preferences.
 17. The electronicnavigation method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprisesenabling a user of the mobile computing device to share the currentlocation with another mobile computing device.
 18. The electronicnavigation method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprisesenabling a user of the mobile computing device to share the currentlocation with another mobile computing device using at least one of: (a)a peer-to-peer architecture; (b) a peer-to-server architecture; (c) aserver-to-peer architecture; (d) a peer-to-local storage devicearchitecture; (e) a local storage device-to-peer architecture; and (f) alocal storage device-to-server architecture.
 19. A computing apparatuscomprising: at least one memory comprising computer executableinstructions and at least one processor configured to execute thecomputer executable instructions, wherein the computer executableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause thecomputing apparatus to, receive a starting location associated with amobile computing device, the starting location being in reference to apoint on a map; receive a destination location, the destination locationbeing in reference to data point on a map; determine a plurality ofpossible routes from the starting location to the destination locationby performing a route computation between the starting location and thedestination location using map data, the plurality of possible routesbeing in reference to the map data; for each of the plurality ofpossible routes, obtain a travel time to the destination location; andin response to the mobile computing device traveling along one of theplurality of possible routes, (i) determine a plurality of locations ofthe mobile computing device from location information obtained from themobile computing device, (ii) cause the mobile computing device todisplay on a map generated using the map data (a) the plurality ofpossible routes, (b) the travel time to the destination for at least oneof the plurality of possible routes along which the mobile computingdevice is traveling, and (c) an indication of the plurality of locationsof the mobile computing device, and (iii) cause the mobile computingdevice to modify or remove at least one of the plurality of possibleroutes based on the map data and a current location of the mobilecomputing device and cause the mobile device to display on the map anindication of the modification or the removal of the at least one of thepossible routes.
 20. The computing apparatus of claim 19, wherein themobile computing device is a mobile communication device.
 21. Thecomputing apparatus of claim 19, wherein the computer executableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor further causethe computing apparatus to obtain one or more route preferencesassociated with the mobile computing device.
 22. The computing apparatusof claim 21, wherein the computer executable instructions when executedby the at least one processor further cause the computing apparatus todetermine the plurality of possible routes between the starting locationand the destination location by performing the route computation usingthe one or more route preferences.
 23. The computing apparatus of claim19, wherein the computer executable instructions when executed by the atleast one processor further cause the computing apparatus to share thecurrent location with another mobile computing device.
 24. The computingapparatus of claim 19, wherein the computer executable instructions whenexecuted by the at least one processor further cause the computingapparatus to share the current location with another mobile computingdevice using at least one of: (a) a peer-to-peer architecture; (b) apeer-to-server architecture; (c) a server-to-peer architecture; (d) apeer-to-local storage device architecture; (e) a local storagedevice-to-peer architecture; and (f) a local storage device-to-serverarchitecture.